Thursday, April 11, 2013

St. Maarten/St. Martin (Accommodation)

We spent 11 days visiting the island of St. Maarten/St. Martin in March of 2013 for our honeymoon.

This blog entry will cover our choice of accommodation for the trip.

As with so many of our prior trips, after having selected St. Martin as our honeymoon destination, I immediately looked at VRBO for potential places to stay. The island offers a wide range of accommodation, from the large resorts such as the Westin to mid-size hotels, and all the way to small inns and B & Bs. Most places offer at least a partial view of the water and a select few offer oceanfront property (at a high premium, of course). Accommodations on the island can be pricey and we knew that by renting a condo or house versus staying in a resort or hotel we would save ourselves quite a bit of money. Additionally, we love the amount of space and feeling of freedom that rentals offer us in comparison to hotel rooms, so the decision was quite easy.

When initially looking at VRBO I was surprised with the number of location options there was listed on the island. For an island of only 37 square miles, there are many different areas to choose to stay in. I was actually overwhelmed by the number of options, but figured that staying in any of the locations that bordered the ocean would be fine given the small size of the island, assuming that driving between the different areas would be painless.

Nine months prior to our honeymoon, we found an amazing 1000 square foot apartment located on the bottom floor of a recently built house overlooking Dawn Beach for about $170 per night; it seemed almost too good to be true! Dawn Beach, located on the Dutch side of the island, is known for being peaceful and quiet even though there are two large resorts in the area (Westin and Oyster Bay Beach Resort).

We provided the owners a 50% deposit and began the countdown for our trip. Unfortunately, four months prior to the trip, while in Playa del Carmen, Mexico for our destination wedding, I received an email from the owner of the apartment indicating that she was in the process of selling her place and couldn't guarantee whether or not it would be sold prior to our arrival. We were both extremely disappointed and frustrated with this news as we knew that there was no way we were going to find something as nice for the same price, especially with the short time frame we had. Fortunately, the owner was willing to work with us and helped place us into another rental and offered to transfer our deposit to the new rental. The new rental we found was also located in Dawn Beach and is available to rent here on VRBO. It was a condo that was part of a hotel called Princess Heights, one of the highest rated places on the entire island, according to Trip Advisor. I found this quite amusing as I had originally considered renting a unit from Princess Heights prior to reserving the first place on VRBO. The owners of the original place were extremely kind and understanding of our situation and actually paid the difference between their rate and the rate of our new place since it was more expensive. Although we obviously found the situation very inconveniencing, we were quite lucky that the owner was willing to do this for us.

Princess Heights is an upscale condominium-hotel unit that is placed in the hills above Dawn Beach. The units feature 1 or 2 bedrooms with a large living room plus kitchen with beautiful touches such as granite counter tops and marble flooring. The best part of the units, however, are the large balconies with amazing views of the ocean, and on a clear day, of neighboring St. Barts! After reviewing photos of the unit on VRBO and on Trip Advisor as well as Princess Height's website, we began to get excited again!

Finding Princess Heights was a bit more challenging to find than we had expected. Road signs are few and far between on the island and although the directions from the hotel staff worked relatively well for most of our ride from the airport, they left out one of the roundabouts, resulting in us getting lost. Given that this was our first day on the island and our first experience driving there, it was quite stressful. Although the island may sound small (37 square miles) it is filled with hills and curving roads and when you first begin driving it's all a bit confusing and disorienting and takes much longer than you might expect. However, once we arrived and were brought into our condo, all the stress washed away. As mentioned, the views from the amazing balcony were incredible, especially when it was clear and St. Barts could be seen in the distance! I was so mesmerized by the view that I had a difficult time focusing on anything else in the unit! The spacious 1000 square foot 1 bedroom 1.5 bath condo was beautifully decorated, especially the bedroom which felt very romantic with the tulle draping the bed. The unit was extremely clean and well-maintained and felt very comfortable. The AC worked perfectly and there was even cable TV! We really couldn't have asked for a better place to stay and we were both blown away with the place.

Bedroom at Princess Heights

Bedroom at Princess Heights

Bedroom at Princess Heights

Bedroom at Princess Heights

Bedroom at Princess Heights

Bedroom at Princess Heights

Bedroom at Princess Heights

Master bath at Princess Heights

Master bath at Princess Heights

Living room at Princess Heights

Kitchen at Princess Heights

Dining area at Princess Heights

Kitchen at Princess Heights

The view from the living room at Princess Heights.

Living room at Princess Heights

Living room at Princess Heights

Living room at Princess Heights

Living room at Princess Heights

Living room at Princess Heights

Powder room at Princess Heights

View from the balcony at Princess Heights.

View from the balcony at Princess Heights.

Shyawn enjoying the view from the balcony at Princess Heights.

Shyawn enjoying the view from the balcony at Princess Heights.

The balcony at Princess Heights.

The balcony at Princess Heights.

View from the balcony at Princess Heights overlooking the pool area.

View from the balcony at Princess Heights.

View from the balcony at Princess Heights.

View from the balcony at Princess Heights.

View from the balcony at Princess Heights after a storm.

View from our front door at Princess Heights.

View from our front door at Princess Heights.

View of Princess Heights.

Another one of the perks to staying at Princess Heights is the amazing sunrise that guests are rewarded with from the balcony. Although we had 11 mornings to try and catch the sunrise, admittedly we waited until the very last morning to finally see it. There was a bit of cloud cover along the horizon so the sunrise wasn't quite as impressive as it normally is, but was still pretty nonetheless!

Sunrise at Princess Heights

Sunrise at Princess Heights

Sunrise at Princess Heights

Sunrise at Princess Heights

Sunrise at Princess Heights

Sunrise at Princess Heights

Sunrise at Princess Heights

Sunrise at Princess Heights

The only downside to our experience at Princess Heights? The location. And when I refer to location, I don't mean that it's a bad location. It's beautiful. However, given the amount of driving we did, especially up to Grand Case nearly every night for dinner, we felt as though we were too much off the beaten path as it seemed as though we were constantly driving. Dawn Beach is a great area for families and those who don't plan on doing a lot of driving and whom don't care about nightlife or the best restaurants. Although I absolutely loved the condo and its amazing views, given our personal needs, on a future trip to the island we would likely stay in/near Orient Bay (French side) or in Simpson Bay (Dutch side).

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About Me

I am an avid traveler, amateur photographer, and self-proclaimed foodie whose biggest passion in life involves discovering new places, people, and food. Long ago, I decided to make travel the most important priority in my life.
Traveling has altered my life in more ways than I will ever be able to describe. One of the biggest and most important things traveling has done to me is immensely change the way I measure quality of life. Travel has also broadened my perspectives and helped me realize that not everyone has the so-called “American Dream” and that having less things in life can actually make you a happier and more fulfilled human being. Through my travels I have gained a huge appreciation for cultural, political, and religious differences and diversity.
This blog will allow me to document all of my amazing travels, life-changing experiences, delicious food, and the interesting interactions I encounter as I travel through this very beautiful and diverse world.